Matt Hewson
A local art gallery has been nominated for a 2023 Victorian Community Achievement Award for its contributions to the Ocean Grove and broader Bellarine community.
The Hive Ocean Grove Gallery is one of the nominees for the Nectre Regional Service Award, which aims to recognise regional and rural contributors who help to reshape and inspire their local communities.
In addition to supporting, mentoring and showcasing the works of local artists, the Hive acts as a community hub, supports local government and community initiatives such as Geelong Design Week and the Bellarine Arts Trail, provides free gallery space to school students and sponsors the Ocean Grove Football and Netball Club and Ocean Grove Tennis Club.
The gallery also takes the lead on sustainability initiatives, such as partnering with the Bellarine Catchment Network to provide education opportunities for artists and establishing a land restoration project encouraging indigenous plant life.
The Hive opened in 2016, when curator and director Karen Spreadborough and her partner and sculptor Will Wilson decided to create their own site to exhibit Mr Wilson’s work.
Ms Spreadborough said she was very proud of what the gallery had been able to achieve since it opened.
“We’ve grown over seven years from six local artists to now over 45,” Ms Spreadborough said.
“We’ve got 50 exhibitions under our belt, we’ve had over 38,000 visitors now. We certainly hope we can help grow tourism in the region.
“We find there’s a key community tribe that returns to us regularly, but also probably a third of our visitors are new all the time, (with many) from interstate and international as well.”
The Victorian Community Achievement Awards will be presented on Friday, 1 December .
